She dates men who need her, but always moves on to something new, never staying in one place for very long.

David Lisey is in need of a muse.

A talented musician lacking lyrical inspiration. When he first sees her, he knows he’s found what he’s been looking for.

Yara believes she can give David exactly what he needs to reach his full potential: A broken heart.

David’s religion is love.

Yara’s religion is heartache.

Neither is willing to surrender, but religion always requires sacrifice.

“So tell me, David Lisey, what’s the meaning of love? Enlighten me.”

“I’ve thought about that, actually. It’s when you can’t get someone out. They crawl inside you and they just live there for the rest of your life.”

Atheists Who Kneel and Pray has rendered me completely and utterly speechless. Tarryn Fisher has spilled her talent all over this book and delivered the story in spades! Her way of writing that is unique, poetic, and all-consuming made it easy for me to get caught up in this novel.

We are represented with a story of Yara Phillips and David Lisey. Yara is an English who has been wandering around the United States. This is her way of leaving her old memories behind. She has been to Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and Seattle and has worked as a bartender. One day in Seattle, she met David Lisey, a lead singer of a small-time band called Lazarus Come Fort when he approached her at the bar where she works and instantaneously asked her to become his muse.

“That’s why people create art– because love crawls inside them and they need a way to get it out.”

David and Yara’s relationship gave me so many feels. One second I was so happy, in love, giddy… and the next second my heart hurt so badly. These two are an odd pair but their love story was beautifully woven in a way that didn’t stop me from rooting for them to be together in the end.

I guess the thing that really made this book stood out was the depth of Yara and David’s character development. Yara was this type of person who always packs her things, runs away, and starts all over again in a new place when things in her life gets tough and for me, it’s not healthy because in every failure that she faces, she can only make one solution that apparently doesn’t work for her. For some, her character may be difficult to like because she’s also a narcissist and the fact that she’s a commitment freak makes her difficult to adore, but the more I got to know her, the more she became real to me. I perfectly understood her reactions– her insecurities. And I felt connected to her emotions and her pain.

David, on the other hand, was not perfect. He had made reckless decisions too like Yara. But you know what made him such a great character for me? It’s the way he stayed true and committed to Yara even after the frustrating things that happened to their relationship.

“How often do we lie to ourselves and say we don’t care about something when we do?”

This book was unlike most romance books I’ve read. It was emotionally charged and the way it was written was so profound, so intense– the kind that leaves me wanting more. The chemistry between the characters was also electric and as the story progressed, their feelings developed to something more than just sexual.

Expect to find yourself riding a roller coaster of emotions when you read this book. I felt this myself and the effect was no joke. My poor heart was dragged all over the place with the push and pull between the characters. There’s just something about this book that changes me and my perspectives and that’s in a good way. I can say that I’m very fortunate to come across this book. It was unputdownable, gripping, highly-emotional– in true Tarryn Fisher fashion.